Film Nerd 2.0: We scare the crap out of the kids with 'Jurassic Park' on Blu-ray

As films show up at the house, the boys like to open all the packages, something I've had to decide against thanks to some of the more extreme movies that have been sent to me over the years. I'll glance inside before deciding if they can open something.

There are times when the boys are excited not because they know anything about a movie, but simply because they recognize that they heard someone talking about the title. It's sweet, and I'm sure they take their cues from me. No matter how hard I try to make sure that what they watch is about laying out choices and letting them make those choices, they get excited if I'm excited at all. They're just trying to learn about the world that way. "Hey, mom likes this so I'm going to like this!" "Dad said this movie's title ten times, and so we want to see it!"

Marketing is pervasive, and as Toshi's been learning to read, one of the big joys for him is reading the titles of movie posters as we drive around. Living in LA, there is a constant barrage of roadside imagery selling movies. And they ask about EVERYTHING we go by. There are times when they become excited about something for bizarre reasons, and one of my recent favorites was when they became fixated on the release date of "Crazy Stupid Love."

Reason one: my wife. She was all about "Crazy Stupid Love" in the weeks leading up to release. Asking when the press screening was. Making sure she was free for the night of the press screening. Seeing the movie. Loving the movie. Telling her mom and her sister about it the next day. Telling them that they HAVE to see it. Toshi and Allen banking this recommendation, but not just because their mother was excited, but also because…

Reason two: "stupid" is considered a bad word in my house. My sons know not to use the big swear words at all, not under any circumstance. There is no debate, and they are clear on that. They've each had one moment where they bravely tried out a private "shit" or two in the other room, but when confronted, they dropped it. Right away. But "stupid" evolved into a bad word in the house, because they would call each other the name until someone would cry or punch or punch and cry or punch and then get punched and then everyone cried. Some variation thereof.

So my wife outlawed it. She gathered the villagers and declared our house a "stupid" free zone for Toshi and Allen. As with all bad words, Mommy and Daddy have special dispensation. We're the police state. We can walk around wearing a shirt that says "THE REALLY DIRTY DON'T SAY IT F WORD" if we want to and that's just the way it works. We try not to, but they get it. With "stupid," it's been a real struggle to get it out of their vocabulary, but we were making ground until…

Reason three: They realized they could say the name of the movie without getting in trouble. Toshi broke the ice, asking me "Daddy, is the name of that movie on that poster 'Crazy Stupid Love'?"

"Yes."

"What's 'Crazy Stupid Love' about?"

"It's about kissing and grown-up stuff."

Involuntary shudder at the thought. A shared look with his brother each time he says "stupid." "Daddy, is 'Crazy Stupid Love' for kids?"

"Ohhh. So then when are you going to go to see 'Crazy Stupid Love' with Mommy?"

And on and on. And then his brother got into the act, quizzing me for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, anything and any excuse to ask about it.

My wife caught on, of course, and declared a hit on the title itself, telling me to just call it "that Steve Carell movie" when referring to it. Then earlier this week, there was an envelope at the door, and Toshi was at school but Allen was here, so Allen brought me the envelope and told me he was going to open it. Opened it. Takes out a Blu-ray and recognizes the key art since he doesn't read. But recognizes it immediately. Eyes wide. He looked at me like it was Christmas and he just opened a box containing his very own real life pet dinosaur. And he couldn't help himself. He held it up, title facing me, upside down, and loudly demanded, "Daddy, is this can you tell me this is 'Crazy Stupid Love'?!"

So pleased with himself he was almost out of breath.

That's my long way of saying they get excited about things for strange reasons, as I'm sure all kids do. They react to whatever culture is presented to them. We don't let them watch plain old fashioned live TV of any kind. If we can't be there to watch it with them, they're not watching it. Someone is always present as they intake media. It's not a background thing. It's not sonic wallpaper while they're playing. They're either watching something, or they're not. And more often, they're not. During the week, they don't do a lot of idle watching of things. Allen has about an hour that his mom will let him watch whichever of the little kid networks on our cable box has no commercials at all. There are between show breaks and bumpers but there's nothing for any product or brand. Toshi can maybe watch a half-hour of something during his post-school snack. They don't watch tons and tons of TV.

Instead, we've made it so when the TV is on, it's special. They're either hanging out with me or with their grandmother and aunt or with their mom, and there's something communal about it. We've made it an event for them. So there is a sense of outsized reaction to some degree. It's a big treat, and they act like it is each time. They ask for a lot more than they are able to see. Both "Captain America" and "Transformers 3" were recent arrivals that they begged for, and like "Green Lantern," they were told no, that it wasn't for them.

But when the "Jurassic Park" trilogy arrived, my wife took it out of the envelope and as she handed it over said, "I've never seen any of those. Is it worth it?"

Ooooooops. I said "dinosaurs" and both boys were hooked. Thing is, I wasn't sure I was ready to show them any of the movies. I decided to watch the T-rex scene and the raptor stuff again before deciding, and late that night, I watched those sequences. While I think those scenes remain expertly crafted set pieces, I didn't think they were wildly out of bounds. At the time in 1993, I remember thinking the film had gotten away with something with that PG-13 rating. Every time I saw the film theatrically, that T-rex attack was greeted by genuine fear from the audience. Real panic. Temperatures went up a few degrees. People were short of breath. It was amazing how visceral the experience was, every single time. I was so fascinated by the response that I went to see the film in about six different LA theaters.

This time out, I was convinced by seeing it on my set-up that the boys would be able to handle it. If it was theatrical and 3D, probably not, but at home, it felt like it was safe enough for Toshi. I decided to bring Mom in for the conversation about Allen, and we decided that she would see it with Toshi, and if she thought Allen could see it, there could be a second viewing for his sake. But not the first time through. We left Allen set up like a little king in my bedroom, his favorite venue for watching things, and he asked me to put in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," which he loves unreservedly, and which is always kept right by the DVD player in my room. I put it on for him, and with Toshi and my wife, adjourned to the office for a trip to "Jurassic Park."

I've always had a bit of a difficult relationship with the film. As fascinated as I was by some of the set pieces in the movie, I think it's a very uneven script, and I think the exposition dominates much of the running time. It's slow to get going, and it ends so suddenly that it feels like they just quit after they got to the big beats. It has always struck me as a movie built on one great idea that inspired some genuinely aggressive good work from Spielberg. But a great film? Not in my book.

Time may have mellowed me a bit, though, because on this viewing, I liked the film a little more than I have in the past. I still think it's got some weird structural issues, but for me, the character work by Sam Neill, Sir Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, and especially Jeff Goldblum is what really makes it work. The set pieces I liked then, I still like now. More than anything, though, I was struck by just how small the film is overall. At the time, I remember being amazed that there were "only" 75 CG shots in the whole film. I look at it now, I'm not sure it even feels like there are 75 total. By the event movie standards of today, "Jurassic Park" is positively quaint.

More than anything, I was curious to see what impact it would have on Toshi, who, like most boys his age, absolutely adores anything that has to do with dinosaurs. I think he has trouble believing that anything that cool ever really walked the earth, but we've gone to the museum enough times to look at the skeletons that it's starting to sink in. Because he's dino-crazy, we've watched any number of TV specials along the lines of "Walking With Dinosaurs," and I realized as we were starting the film that he may actually be numb to the movie's charms as a result of thinking that it is entirely ordinary to see them on film these days.

I should have had more faith in Spielberg.

He is, after all, one of the greatest visual storytellers to ever work in film. It's fine if you don't like certain movies of his, or if you don't like his taste in general, but if you try to claim that he's not an enormously gifted communicator in terms of visual language, you're just wrong. I think he is sometimes let down by his writers, but he can make even weak material sing when he's really hitting on all cylinders. In the case of "Jurassic Park," there's an energy to it that is just relentless, and the film strikes a nice balance between wonder and horror. The way the film gradually sets you up works quite well, and Toshi was onboard from the very start. He loved the premise, and as the movie inched towards the first big reveal, he was impatient, almost afraid to blink.

The first moment with dinosaurs worked well on him, and one thing I love about kids is that they're not looking for seams in special effects. We've spoken before in this column about his budding love of Ray Harryhausen's work, and it's the imagination behind an effect that he seems to respond to most. When he saw the brachiosaurs, he was just as impressed and amazed as Sam Neill's character, delighted by the idea of a place you could go to see real dinosaurs. At the Natural History Museum here in Los Angeles, they have an exhibit hall where they have a dinosaur that makes occasional appearances. It's a very clever costume, along the lines of what they use in the live-action "Walking With Dinosaurs" touring show, and we've gone several times to see the show. Toshi loves it, and when the dinosaur comes walking out among the gathered kids, he is both terrified and delighted. With the first big appearance by the brachiosaurs, he was delighted.

And when the T-rex finally appeared? He was definitely terrified.

Of my two sons, Toshi is the one who seems to react most acutely to being scared by a movie. The first time I tried to show him "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," he made me shut it off about halfway through. He was shaking he was so scared. And that was an Abbott and Costello movie. The strange thing is, he's in love with monsters. He adores Godzilla for example, to such a strong degree that when we watched the original 1954 film together, he cried when Godzilla died. Inconsolably. It destroyed him to see them kill something so amazing. The only thing that finally calmed him down was when I showed him a shelf full of other Godzilla movies, assuring him that Godzilla wasn't really dead. His godfather gifted him with a whole bunch of orange monster books designed to introduce kids to various movie monsters, and we spent months reading them every single night. In a book, it's one thing. But in a film, he finds monsters to be almost emotionally overwhelming.

So when the T-rex scene began, I paid close attention to him, ready to shut the film off if it got to be too much for him. Instead, he stayed riveted, reacting with his full body to each moment. Just when I thought it was about to really freak him out, the beat with the lawyer on the toilet happened, and as the T-rex chomped down on the guy, Toshi let out the biggest belly laugh. And that's what makes Spielberg so great. He knew full well that the sequence would cause an animal panic in people, and he made sure to punctuate the entire sequence with gags that gave people an out, a pressure valve, a way to defuse the pure terror. Each of the laughs built into the scene landed perfectly, and I was amazed to see Toshi ride that rollercoaster. Fear, fear, fear, laugh. Fear, fear, fear, laugh. And once we made it through that entire sequence, he turned to look at me, face flushed, the biggest smile on his face, and said, "Daddy, that was awwwwwwwwwwesome."

Another fifteen minutes or so into the film, the office door opened, and Allen stepped into the room. I paused the film, and the three of us must have looked at him like the Watergate burglars, totally busted and unsure what to say.

"What are you watching?"

My wife looked at me, unsure how to answer.

"We're watching a movie, sweetie." I stood up to walk him back into the other room, but he wasn't having it.

"What movie?"

"It's a scary movie. It's not for you."

"Scary?" He pointed at Toshi, outraged. "BUT HE'S WATCHING IT!"

As I said, Toshi is the one who gets scared watching films, while every time Allen's ever seen anything scary in a movie, he's the one who leans in closer, intrigued. His point was a valid one. If Toshi was watching the film with us, then why couldn't he watch it, too?

I stood there for a good ten seconds trying to come up with a valid reason to take Allen back to the other room.

So of course, he ended up watching the rest of the film with us. After all, the T-rex scene is the scariest sequence in the film, so I figured he'd be fine with the rest of it. We explained the basic story to him, and he settled in on my wife's lap, excited to see some dinosaurs. He and Toshi chattered away at each glimpse of a new dinosaur, and they were having a great time. Then the raptors got loose, and they got quiet. Toshi had seen the beginning of the film, so he knew that the raptors had been explained as the scariest dinosaurs of all time. He told his little brother what to expect, and they both sat forward, waiting for the raptors to actually appear.

Spielberg's very smart the way he brings them into the movie, with just a glimpse at first, then gradually accelerating things. The boys were so excited to recognize their new hero, Samuel L. Jackson, in the movie that they got a little distracted, explaining to my wife that he's both Mace Windu and Nick Fury and that means there's no one cooler anywhere ever, and they weren't really ready for the moment where Laura Dern is trying to turn the power back on. A raptor bursts out from behind the cables, a fantastically framed and shot jump scare, and I looked over at everyone else in the room. My wife jumped, laughing even as she did so, and Toshi actually stood up for a moment, as if he was going to run out of the room, before he also started laughing.

Allen, though, went totally rigid. His arms both shot straight up over his head like he was reaching for something, and his legs shot out in front of him, and his mouth dropped open. It took him a good four or five seconds before he returned to normal, realizing what he'd done. He saw me looking at him, and he smiled at me. "I wasn't scared, Daddy."

Yeah, right. The rest of the movie played out very well, and at the end of it, both boys were already asking to watch it again. They told me that they wish Jurassic Park was a real place, and I asked if they'd go there if it was. "Oh, no," said Toshi. "But it would be cool." There have been no lasting after-effects, no nightmares. It seems like the film sort of bounced off of them to some degree.

They're interested in the sequels as well, and I'm sure we'll find time for them. There's no narrative urgency, though, and I'm not in any rush to show either of them. In talking with the boys, there's almost nothing about the film that hit them on a deeper level than "that was awesome," but sometimes, that's enough.

Argh, sorry about that. Was going to say that I was 9 when it came out and I'd even already read the book (I was going made with anticipation) and the movie (which I adored) still led to recurring velociraptor nightmares for years.

I would be one of them. I definitely agree Banshee that Spielberg is by far the most influential figure of his generation but to encompass all aspects of what would be considered greatness is a bit too much for me.

For me his legacy on television leaves a little to be desired. I know he was behind the WWII films on HBO but his science fiction has left a place that is much to be desired.

For me the mark that I believe is quintessentially Spielbergian is the moment in ET where Elliot and ET touch fingers and ET's finger glows. It is this sort of treacle-y moment that is being replicated in the name of Spielberg without any actual emotion which is crucial for such profound moments.

In one of Spielberg's many television productions this last season we had "Falling Skies". It had the trade mark little child to remind the elders that there is still hope in the world without actually grounding it in actual character work.

For me these treacle-y moments actually blunt the importance of science fiction to explore questions that would otherwise be impossible in a realistic fiction piece of art because the darkness would be too close to our own reality. Therefore I have a problem with Spielberg and his legacy.

@Banshee Thanks for the pleasant response. I was expecting a lot of hate. I have an extreme dislike for Scorsese. I like Woody Allen of the three the best.

Spielberg has done a wide range of work from Science Fiction to Historical fiction and into some dark material. The most Spielbergian influence on media for my generation is Ron Howard.

Out of the films you have listed The Color Purple is the most favorite of mine because it was so small a movie and he was able to get great chemistry out of the performances.

So I am going to try to lay out my issue with Spielberg a little differently. I feel that he works in primary colors (a metaphor I am borrowing from Mo Ryan) he is in a very traditional space and does really say anything we haven't heard before with his films or if they are they tend to be kind of cloying and family oriented.

My problem with a lot of the big directors that are hailed as the greats is that they are mainly known for their engineering feats George Lucas, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan and I would put Spielberg for me is in that mold.

When I watch a movie I want the movie to speak to me in a way I haven't been spoken to before. Therefore Woody Allen for me is that type of fresh air. Quentin Tarantino is also one of those people. They are concerned with people and communication in the end and say it in interesting ways but aren't afraid to broach taboo topics or speak in a way that hasn't been spoken before.

For me in this new generation Ron Howard is the one to take that mantle heavily influential in movies and television. From Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind to Arrested Development and Friday Night Lights. Its this type of willingness to explore all modes of expression that I can't wait for his Dark Tower series and movies even though I have not read the King books.

So as a communicator, in terms of what his communicating, Spielberg is not on the top of my list.

I first watched the movie when I was very young (about 5 or 6) because both my elder sisters were into the REALLY scary/horror movies, my mum and dad thought that "Jurassic Park" would have No affect on me... They could not be more wrong!

Yes I admit, I watched the movie at least another 10 times in that same week, but I also remember the nightmares. One in particular. Me and my parents watching the T.V in the middle of our house, yet I am the only one of us who could see the T-Rex and the 2 Velociraptors circling the house. The moment when I realize that the front door is left open and I race over to go close it, the T-Rex is standing right there, lunges at me and I wake up right before he closes his jaw around my chest!

That dream haunted me until I was at least 14. And to me that means that your kids are absolute LEGENDS, and that Jurassic Park will be one of the Greatest Sci-Fi movies of All time!!!

Jurassic Park has always been my favorite movie. I saw it in theaters when I was 4 in 1993 and still watch it at least twice a year. My favorite thing is how the plot has made more sense to me over the years so its gone from awesome dinosaurs to actual story. I'm curious what you think the blu ray adds and if it is worth getting.

JP *is* the last of the "classic" Spielberg, his last film before Janusz Kaminski's gritty, blown-out backlighting became the only lens that Spielberg's vision was funneled through. While Spielberg has made a number of great films since, his "fun", popcorn movies have suffered both from a change in technology and a general lack of interest.

"His godfather gifted him with a whole bunch of orange monster books designed to introduce kids to various movie monsters"

Holy shit, I think I've read those books as a kid in the school library when I was 8 and 9! The ones with a yelling King Kong in the back right? I loved those books. I think those books along with Encyclopedia Brown are the books I checked out most! That's where I first learned about those old monster movies.

That is the one I'm really wrestling with as far as my 4-year-old nephew goes. My father showed me that film when I was 6 or 7, and I adored it. It scared me, but not to a nightmare-inducing level. I just fell in love with the film as a whole.

Now, my sister(my nephew's mom, naturally) has a DEATHLY fear of sharks. Like, I can show her a PICTURE of a shark and she'll have a panic attack. I'm just hoping its not in my nephew's genes.

Watched it again last night on Blu-Ray. I totally forgot what an absolute thrill ride the movie is, how relentless its pace is, and am still trying to figure out HOW THE HELL the CG dinosaurs (esp. the raptors in the kitchen and the full sized T-Rex "eating" the turned-over Jeep during the rain sequence) were done so realistically back in 1993. I can still tell what is CGI in a lot of today's blockbusters but there are certain shots in Jurassic Park that are still totally believable.

A tall order I'd say, for even the most precocious kid, to absorb the Lord of the Rings saga at the ages of Drew's boys. It's a somewhat draining experience for even an adult to take in the complete extended form of all three films...

The first time either of my kids saw "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein," we were with them. On a repeat viewing, we've already had the conversation, and we already know if they're comfortable with the material. We didn't abandon anybody to anything.

Also, I'm fairly sure you don't understand even basic terminology. If you don't get the sheer skill behind the way Spielberg uses every element of film to communicate (or "manipulate" if you're a pedantic wank, since the sheer act of editing one shot next to another is manipulation by definition), then feel free to take your one-sided rant elsewhere. You're not welcome here.

Sepinwall has a simple response for these type of comments and when he sees commenters taken into "the conversation":

Don't feed the troll.

I don't think you have to waste your time defending yourself. You have made the important arguments elsewhere and your writing speaks for itself (writing speaking for itself an idea from Fienberg not mine but I think it is a good way to put things).

Don't worry about such vitriolic resentment you are fine.

We should all take a page out of Allen's book and his zen attitude. I know I sure could.

I'm hearing that I wouldn't be the only one interested in an overview from Drew of the JURASSIC PARK Blu-ray editions. Moreover, I think that if you have the time Drew, I can see the genesis of an new column, appearing irregularly, wherein you examine the new editions of important artistic or pop cultural event films, like JURASSIC PARK, the STAR WARS SAGA, THE GODFATHER, THE CONVERSATION, TAXI DRIVER, THE EXORCIST, JAWS, the Indiana Jones adventures, as they appear on Blu-ray disc. You would appraise the technical conversion of the film itself to the new format, as well as grading the supplementals on these releases, and placing the film(s) itself within your own personal context, contrasted with the context of its place in the evolution of the medium. I can't think of anyone out there more suited to such a project. Anyone else like this idea?

Believe me, I recognize the many more titles I could have named as examples up above, but these were the recent or upcoming titles that came quickest to mind. Clearly, one could go back and revisit BLADE RUNNER, and APOCALYPSE NOW was only released on the format a few months ago.

I have to say though, I am not much of a Jurassic Park. I seem to have been the only kid in my town bored by the film. Then I found the book when I was older, and WOW did my general dislike of the film turn intense. While I am sure a second crack at the material on screen would be hated by many, I'd be up for it, provided it sticks with the original text.

Just out of curiosity, why no Captain America? It's a wonderful film, and it harkens back to the Saturday matinees that Spielberg grew up loving. Good old-fashioned adventure, almost Raiders of the Lost Ark-like, at it's core. Seems appropriate for young boys.

As I sit and wait for your "Return of the Jedi" installment of Nerd 2.0, I figured I'd go back and comment on some of your previous entries.

I would have been just barely four years old when "Jurassic Park" came out. At the time, I was hyped up about the idea of a dinosaur movie, but my parents told me (true or not) that the director had a kid my age and had said the movie was to scary to show to his own kid. So with that excuse in hand, they told me I could see it when I was eight.

And they stuck to it. And I held them to it. So, on my eighth birthday, my dad and I watched it in my parents' bedroom, while my younger brother had to go play by himself for a couple hours.

It was a great experience, if only because it was an event I'd spent literally half my life anticipating at that point. But in hindsight, we really should have watched it on a bigger TV (then again, TVs in general weren't particularly large at the time) for the movie to have its full effect. I absolutely enjoyed it, but it didn't suck me in the way the best films do when seen under the best conditions. Probably why I never had any Jurassic Park-inspired nightmares.

Great stuff, Drew. I am a late arrival to these Film Nerd 2.0 pieces, and I've been rabidly catching up on them the last few nights when I have some down time. I'm 23 years old and am far, far away from reaching the maturity required to foster a child, but I have a 4 year-old nephew and have found these articles getting me really hyped up. I work and go to school part time, and spend a good portion of my "weekends" watching my nephew while his parents work. I've gradually been opening the doors to my pop culture nerddom, but I've also been reticent in how to handle it. Your articles have been a great guide. So far, the coolest experience we've had was watching "Monster Squad" together over Halloween. It struck the perfect balance of scares and laughs for him.

The ironic thing about this article, in particular, is that I was just about 6 years old when I saw "Jurassic Park" in theaters. The experience you describe Toshi having is alarmingly similar to mine, and I agree that it is an unbelievably well-crafted piece of pop cinema from Spielberg, for just about any age.

Love this stuff, keep up the great work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more "Film Nerd 2.0" articles to read.

I saw this for the first time when I was about Toshi's age on VHS and I loved the hell out of it. It was the first PG-13 rated film I had seen. I didn't have nightmares either, despite my mom insisting that I would.